Blue Beetle #6Review

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It's Blue Beetle vs... Red Beetle?

By Jesse Schedeen

This new Blue Beetle series had its work cut out for it as far as distancing itself from the previous volume. Fortunately, Tony Bedard goes a long way towards doing just that in issue #6. For one thing, this issue features a showdown between Jaime and Paco, as the latter has now become possessed by a scarab of his own. The fight is entertaining from start to finish. Bedard provides just the right blend of dramatic tension and humor as Jaime turns his own inexperience into a weapon against his new foe.

Ig Guara is in top form during this extended battle. The minor flaws and rushed quality of the previous couple issues have faded. The action is laid out well and the character emotion expertly conveyed. Even the character design for this new Red Beetle is well done, extending naturally from the Blue Beetle design but adding in more sinister elements of its own.

Bedard continues to push Jaime into new territory with the conclusion. Though annoyingly rushed, the final pages promise to shunt the character into new locales and story directions. For a book that was a little slow to get moving and find an identity at first, this can only be a good thing. But hopefully the more familiar cast members will still have some part to play in this new direction.